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FAMOUS ARTIST'S WORK FOUND IN ATTIC
Thursday, November 19, 1981

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Pix #1 - Plate 3 "Quick to the left and to the right Wheeling
and to the windward starting Zigzagging in eratic flight, Away the long
bill'd snipe are darting; Now for a double and his gun Swings right
and left and it is done.

Pix #2 - Robert Hopkin, a Detroit artist

You never know what's hidden away in your attic...if you
have one...or maybe a closet or basement.

When the Tony Filliater family, 237 W. Tiffin Street,
started exploring their attic they never expected to find a set of lithographed
prints from the original paintings by a famous artist.

Mrs. Filliater telephoned me and asked if I knew the value
of the prints, or how to find out. Having an investigative nature, I
asked if I could look at them. One look at them and I was captivated.
There were eight prints, part of the original set of 12, depicting a
variety of outdoor scenes. The set was in a protective cover, and thus
well preserved. Each print contained the signature of Robert Hopkin,
the arist who had done the originals.

How did I discover further details about Hopkin and his
works of art? My first port of call was Kaubisch Memorial Public Library,
where Pat Bowman found that the Cyclopedia of American Biography listed
Robert Hopkin.

He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, Jan 3, 1832, son of
Robert and Jeanne (Miller) Hopkin. His grandfather was a sea captain
of Rothsay, and often took the lad on his coasting trips, where he saw
the great ships of the world, and where the mystery and fascination
of the sea came upon him. His love for art was inborn. As his father
was the librarian of the Glasgow Public Library, the son spent many
hours pouring over art books and engravings there.

CAME TO U.S. 1842

When he was 10 years old, his parents came to America,
settling in Detroit, Michigan, where with the exception of his cruises
abroad and a brief residence in Chicago, IL., he lived for the rest
of his life. He spent much of his youth along the wharves of Detroit,
and his first marine picture, painted at the age of 15, so pleased his
employer that the latter exhibited it in a store window on Woodward
Avenue. The only unstruction he obtained was from Frederick E. Cohen,
a portrait painter, who taught him how to mix colors.

Hopkin now took up scene painting, which was followed
by mural decorations for churches and public buildings, and was so successful
in that line that in 1870 he moved with his family to Chicago, where
he had steady commissions and good prices, but the great fire of 1871
destroyed his studio, and he returned to Detroit.

The first drop curtain in the old Detroit opera house
was painted by Hopkin. It was destroyed by fire in 1897. He made frequent
trips throughout the west from 1860 to 1885, painting scenery and curtains
for theaters and mural paintings for public buildings. Perhaps the best
of the latter was owned by the Cotton Exchange of New Orleans, comprising
four marine views in panel form, for which he was paid $2,500. At the
same time he was painting a large number of sea views which found a
ready sale. It is said the artist himself did not know their number,
and no two were alike. Many of the pictures were without dates.

VERSATILE ARTIST

While his chief fame and success was in his marines, he
was equally successful in landscapes and woodlands, especially his Scotch
mountains and quaint old street scenes of New Orleans, Savannah, Boston
and Portsmouth.

The eight prints discovered locally, part of the original
set of 12, were done to illustrate Thomas Watson's poem. "The Sportsman's
Reverie". At the bottom of each one of the scenes is a portion of the
poem which inspired that particular work. That set of prints were published
by Sportsman's Publishing Co., Detroit, in 1897, and printed by The
Heliotype Printing Co., Boston, Mass.

A search was made for the complete poem at the Kaubisch
Library and also the Toledo Library, but it was not found. Consequently,
at least for this article, the only reference for the poem are the verses
which appear at the bottom of each of the prints found locally.

MYSTERY SOLVED

How did the set of Hopkin's prints find their way into
the Filliater attic? Who put them there? It is an interesting story
which takes us back to the earlier part of this century. It unraveled
as I talked with various people, including Fostorians Corine Speck and
Mrs. Glen Marshall, and coresponded with Thomas Faulhaver, once a resident
of the house at 237 W. Tiffin St.

The house was constructed for L.J. Eshelman, a prominent
resident and businessman in Fostoria, having operated a drugstore. Date
for construction is pegged at about 1908, since the 1909-10 directory
was the first his residence showed at 237 W. Tiffin St.

That property was later sold to John L. Faulhaver, who
was associated with Dave Balmer in the hardware business, and was also
proprietor of Fostoria Steel Roofing Co. A 1919 directory showed the
Faulhaver family living at 237 W. Tiffin, but they may have moved there
between 1915 and 1919.

FOSTORIA'S FIRST FORD DEALER

Willis J. Hakes acquired the property from Faulhaver in
1928 and lived there until 1969, when it was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Donald
E. Jacobs, the parents of Mrs. Filliater who with her husband are now
owners.

The Faulhabers had six children, two boys who died during
youth. Eunice, Esther and twins Thomas and Mary.

FAULHABER FAMILY

Corine Speck, 521 W. Center St. was a close friend of
Esther Faulhaber, both being in school together in Fostoria, and it
was she that suggested that perhaps the Hopkin prints were originally
owned by Esther, and left there when the family moved to Cleveland.

A letter from Thomas Faulhaber, Vero Beach, Fla., revealed
that his sister Esther was a teacher of art in the Cleveland school
for many years as well as being an artist herself.

My sister had many prints and may have been the owner.
She had entrys in the "May Show" and won some prizes, and took a teaching
sabatical to go abroad and teach in Albania, teaching King Zoggs daughters,
said Thomas.

Therefore it is responsible to believe that Esther Faulhaber
acquired the lithographed prints from the Hoplkin's originals and stored
them in the family residence at 237 W. Tiffin St.; probably forgetting
about them in the passing years, and at the time the family moved. And
perhaps she extracted her choice of the prints and left the rest, which
would account for there being only eight prints when they were discovered.

The eight prints will be displayed in Kaubisch Memorial
Library street window the entire week of Nov. 22.

It is rather ironic that Miss Faulhaber, who lived her
latter years in Chicago just passed away in June 1981, and it was not
long after that the Filliaters discovered the prints.

Mrs. Marshall has found memories of her growing up in
the Tiffin Street house. It was a fine, well built house when it was
first constructed, and still is.

After Willis Hakes purchased the house and when the Faulhabers
had moved to Cleveland, they sent the complete set of architects and
construction prints to him (Hakes), and they too were discovered by
the Filliaters in the attic. Those prints were invaluable in making
repairs and alterations to the house, according to Mrs. Filliater and
Mrs. Marshall.

Corine Speck told me the Lucy Ruhl house at 853 N. Main
St. was constructed on the same plans as the Tiffin Street house.